There are some people -- we never among them -- that rumble that Thierry Henry has lost it. That the man is now a shadow of his former self. Those people ate a big bowl of crow tonight. The French ubermensch was brilliant, scoring a goal and setting up three others in Metro's 4:1 trashing of Columbus. In process, he set the team's all-time assist record in league play.

Mike Petke made only a minor lineup change from last week: Ibrahim Sekagya sat, and Bobby Convey started on the left of the midfield, while Eric Alexander slid into the middle. And it was Alexander who started the play for the first Metro goal. He got the ball out to Henry on the left. Titi walked into the penalty area, then centered the ball to Bradley Wright-Phillips. The Englishman easily knocked it in from close range for his league-leading 15th.

Columbus responded in the 39th. A bad giveaway by Matt Miazga right in front of the penalty area led to some guy named Adam Bedell hitting a shot past Luis Robles. Miazga got a chewing-out from Petke at halftime, but by then, Metro already had the lead back. In the last minute of regulation, a Sam cross was met at the doorstep by Wright-Phillips. The ball was saved, Wright-Phillips couldn't get to it, but a bad Columbus clearance left it at the feet of Henry. The classy Frenchman was all alone in the box and calmly converted.

In the 56th minute, Henry nodded the ball to himself, then found Lloyd Sam in the box, and the Englishman slotted one home to make it 3:1. A few minutes later, Henry sprung Sam on the right side, but the right woodwork was hit.

The record-breaking assist came in the first minute of injury time. Alexander beat the offside trap, took the pass from Henry, walked in, and made Columbus pay. Titi now has 37 assists in league play -- one more than Amado Guevara and Tab Ramos.